


Sub finem

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hogwarts Sixth Year, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-12-12
Updated: 2005-12-12
Packaged: 2017-11-02 07:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/366579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco is planning for the inevitable. Harry has other ideas. (Written pre-<i>Deathly Hallows</i>.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sub finem

**Author's Note:**

> _Sub finem_ : toward the end.

On his way to the Room of Requirement, Harry was surprised to see light spilling from a room nearby. When he peeked around the doorframe, he was not entirely surprised to see blond hair shining in the candlelight.

"Malfoy?"

Draco placed his quill carefully to the side and looked up. "Potter. It's the middle of the night. Go away."

"What are you doing?" Harry came into the room, edging closer.

Draco looked down at the parchment in front of him, half-filled with carefully-inked rounded letters and a large sketched dragon coiling around itself. "Trying to figure something out." He picked up a tiny brush and dabbed a bit of yellow paint on the dragon's spine, picking out a few of its scales.

Harry leaned in and puzzled through the Latin. "Is it a spell?"

"Blood magic."

After a moment, Harry had caught the important words on the page. "Binding. For protection."

Draco nodded, continuing to work on the dragon. This close, Harry could tell it was bent into an A, its tail forming the crossbar.

"Who's it for?"

"Not sure yet. Maybe Snape. He could use it."

"So could you."

"Maybe."

"I could help, Malfoy."

"No," Draco said. "You could, but you can't. It's - complicated."

"It doesn't have to be," Harry said as he leaned down to kiss the pale exposed nape of Draco's neck.

Draco sat very still for a moment, then put down his brush and turned toward Harry. "None of this ends well, Potter. The War, the people we know - none of it."

"It doesn't have to be like that."

"No. But it is like that."

"Bloody fatalist. Does nothing ever change your mind?"

Draco, silent, watched Harry take his hand and trace the tendons. "Maybe," he said. "You could try."


End file.
